Solemn Rite

Husband mourns wife, children killed in fire in Naperville home

August 17, 2007|By Chicago Tribune

Anand Tiwari slowly circled the white caskets that held his children and his wife Thursday, chanting as he gently adorned their bodies with shredded marigold petals.

Tiwari had come to the Oakridge Abbey in Hillside to say goodbye to his 4-year-old son, Vardaan, his 18-month-old daughter, Ananya, and his wife, Nimisha, all of whom were fatally injured five days earlier in a fire in their Naperville home.

There appeared to be no talk Thursday morning of the circumstances behind the deaths, which have been ruled a double-murder and suicide. Police say the 32-year-old woman ignited gasoline poured around the bedroom while her children lay near her on her bed.

Mourners stood barefoot, some dressed in white, as a Hindu priest conducted a solemn ceremony inside the abbey, a columned building marked by white marble steps and bronze doors.

The service was mostly quiet, save for soft chanting and the hum from two large standing fans. At moments, the chapel echoed with the sound of deep, inconsolable sobbing from a mourner. Incense burned and the room carried the aroma of three yellow and red rose bouquets and the torn marigold petals.

Several mourners held on to one another as they paid their final respects, passing by the framed photos placed atop each casket. At about 11 a.m., the caskets were closed.

Nimisha Tiwari's casket was taken to a nearby room for cremation, a Hindu custom. Soon after, gray smoke could be seen from outside the abbey as the children's small white caskets were placed in a dark hearse.

Led by Anand Tiwari, family and friends accompanied the caskets to the nearby "Heavenly Angels" section of Oakridge Glen Oaks Cemetery.

The bleary-eyed father clasped his palms together and bowed before the ground after cemetery workers gently placed his children's caskets into the ground. He dropped more marigold petals onto their caskets and reached out toward the graves. Tiwari later sat back on his heels and sobbed, as a mourner embraced him and cried on his shoulder.

No suicide note was found, and police say they are not sure of the mother's motive. Investigators say they continue to pore over computer records and examine other evidence. Toxicology results, expected in the next couple of weeks, could determine whether the children had been drugged before the fire broke out. Officials said all three victims were alive when the fire was started.

Police say Anand and Nimisha Tiwari, who married in India in 1999, had a troubled marriage. In May, both filed complaints with police alleging bad parenting and abuse on the other's part. Nimisha Tiwari won an emergency order of protection that month, but the order was vacated a week later. Anand Tiwari told the court that he feared that his wife's "impulsivity endangers the children." He said she suffered from multiple sclerosis and was suffering psychological effects of the disease.